Atkins council to meet in three weeks to look at figuresBy Sean IngramNews Editor

ATKINS - The City Council will meet again in three weeks to discuss financing for Atkins' water and sewer improvement project at the treatment plant.

Atkins Mayor Jerry Don Barrett and council members agreed during Tuesday night's regular meeting at City Hall to meet at 7:30 p.m. April 3 so McClellan Consulting Engineers of Little Rock could provide rate structure estimates for the city. Barrett said the engineers had already provided an estimate on the project.

In addition, analyst Jack Trumper of Stephens and Associates Inc. will provide estimates on funding a sales tax would generate. Then, Barrett said, it could be decided the easiest route to generate the estimated $4 million needed to fund water and sewer improvements.

During February's meeting, in a story written by Janie Ginocchio, Jim McClelland told the council the water plant needed several upgrades to meet current Arkansas Health Department (AHD) standards. A 50-percent capacity expansion to meet future demand was also necessary.

Built in the 1970s, the water treatment plant helps provide drinking water to 3,306 residents and 4,361 people on rural water systems in the area. The plant currently treats 2 million gallons of water per day.

He said the AHD conducted a comprehensive performance evaluation of the plant in 2006 and found several areas that needed improvement in order to comply with current water treatment standards.

McClelland estimated the upgrades would cost $1.28 million and the expansion would cost $2 million. The total project cost for the expansion and upgrade - with contingencies and design costs included - would be approximately $4 million.

Trumper said during last month's meeting water and sewer revenue bond payments on the total project cost would be approximately $290,000 to $334,000 per year. He said it would take either a water rate increase or sales tax increase (suggesting 1 1/2 cents) to fund the project.

In other business

Beverly Bauer of Air Evac Lifeteam gave a presentation to the council about services the air ambulance company provides. She said the company has 65 bases located throughout the country, with the closest to Atkins being in Paris (Logan County). Another air base is located in Vilonia in Faulkner County. Emergency medical service has been provided by the company since 1985, and each helicopter base serves 10 counties.

"Memberships keeps us going, keeps us in the air and keeps us in your area," Bauer said.

Barrett said a loss-control representative from the Arkansas Municipal League visited the city's facilities and equipment in late February and only found one thing that needed to be corrected - acetylene torches needed to be equipped with backflash valves. He said Street Superintendent Alfred Berry would pick those up soon, and a response would be written to the Municipal League.

After a question from Alderman Paul David Carpenter, Barrett said he was trying to get bids on fixing several sidewalks and areas in the city that needed to be repaired.

The council approved an ordinance to rezone property for Steven and Laura Robert on State Highway 105 North from R-2 (residential) to C-2 (commercial). The ordinance's first reading was approved, then rules were suspended to read the ordinance the second and third times by title only with a short description. The ordinance was adopted 4-2, with Aldermen Charles Cheek and Raymond Staggs voting no.

Paula Goines and Jeff Small were appointed to the Atkins Housing Authority by unanimous votes. Goines' term will run until March 2012, while Small's term will run until 2011.

Aldermen said the owner of property at 205 N.E. Seventh St. is making a lot of progress in cleaning the burned trailer and surrounding area.

City Attorney William Swain said he needed to talk to someone before writing an ordinance prohibiting pets, glass bottles and smoking at the city's parks.

"I don't understand the reasoning behind it," Swain said, noting he had asked the Municipal League for copies of similar ordinances. Barrett said parents, coaches and city employees didn't want any broken glass out there, dogs snapping at little kids or any kind of mess. He mentioned other cities had similar ordinances at their parks.

All council members were in attendance, including Carpenter, Joann Spence, Staggs, Charles Cheek, Sean Rehm and Kenneth Ehemann. Also at the meeting were City Clerk Brenda Graves, Police Chief Charles Martin and Fire Chief Tony Reel. Barrett thanked former Chief Stevie Duvall, who served the past three years. Reel became fire chief earlier this month.

The Atkins City Council meets at 7 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month at City Hall.

Berry said a work day this past Saturday at McLaren Park got the ballfields in shape for the upcoming baseball and softball seasons.